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University of North Texas experts for the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina became the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history when it hit parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. The impact of Katrina, which was the third-strongest recorded hurricane to make landfall in the U.S., is still being felt almost a year later. As you plan for coverage of the first anniversary of the storm, consider these University of North Texas experts who can discuss a variety of topics related to Hurricane Katrina and to the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1 and ends Nov. 30. Office telephone numbers and e-mail addresses and, for some, home and cell phone numbers are provided. Long-term recovery of communities from hurricanes, response to hurricane warnings, mobile home residents and hurricanes: Dr. Nicole Dash, UNT assistant professor of sociology, says the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and other 2005 hurricanes shows why those who will be most vulnerable if threatened by a hurricane -- the elderly and the poor -- need to know what resources will be available from the local government. "Will transportation be available to help with evacuation? Where are evacuation locations? What should you do if you don't have the financial means to gather supplies for a hurricane? Asking questions now and planning early may be the difference between survival and tragedy for the most economically marginal," she says. "We have yet to find out whether the public and governmental agencies have learned the lessons of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma." Dash has analyzed property tax data and census data for Miami-Dade County from 1990 to 2000 to study the recovery of communities impacted by Hurricane Andrew, which became the most costly natural disaster in U.S. history when it hit Florida in August 1992. She is a Florida native who was a graduate student at Florida International University in Miami when Hurricane Andrew hit. She discovered that areas with large minority populations recovered slower than areas with predominantly Caucasian populations, and African-American areas fared far worse than Hispanic areas, which were predominantly Cuban. She has published a book chapter of some of her findings in "Hurricane Andrew: Ethnicity, Gender and the Sociology of Disasters," published by FIU's Laboratory for Social and Behavioral Research. Office phone number: (940) 565-2230
E-mail: dash@unt.edu Redeveloping urban areas after natural disasters: Dr. John Baen (pronounced BAIN), UNT professor of finance, real estate and law, is the co-author of a new paper titled "Urban Functionality and Extreme Natural Disasters; The New Orleans-Katrina Case for New Federal Policies and Programs for High Risk Areas." The paper is available at http://www.coba.unt.edu/firel/Baen/urban_functionality.pdf. While debate rages on how to rebuild areas in Louisiana, Mississippi and southeast Texas after Hurricane Katrina, Baen says it's not in the best interest of the public to encourage either development or redevelopment in high-risk disaster areas like those hit by the hurricane. Baen says current federal policies have encouraged urban growth in areas with a high risk potential for recurring natural disasters. "The best way to prevent these losses is by not doing it any more. We have to refuse to support rebuilding in high-risk areas," he says. Baen says politics are in part to blame for the continued rebuilding. He is also critical of federal programs which perpetuate the urbanization of areas that are at high risk of damage from hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. Sixty percent of the U.S. population lives along the coastal zone of the nation. "In New Orleans, the government is giving homeowners $150,000 to rebuild, as long as they raise their homes 3 feet above where they had been built. However, during Katrina, the storm surge reached 22 feet. It doesn't make any sense," Baen says. Office phone number: (940) 565-3071
Cell phone number: (940) 507-0312 Response to hurricane warnings, coordination and recovery operations, evacuation patterns, FEMA: Dr. David McEntire, an associate professor in UNT's emergency administration and planning bachelor's degree program, calls the response to Hurricane Katrina "deplorable." "The local and state governments did not prepare adequately and did not have sufficient capability to deal with the disaster. This was especially disturbing since the risk was well known," he says. While the Federal Emergency Management Administration was blamed for much of the botched response to Katrina, the agency "was actually in Louisiana much quicker than in Florida after Hurricane Andrew," McEntire says. "The real blame at the federal level lies with the policies pertaining to homeland security. Mitigation for natural disasters has been ignored. The Department of Homeland Security has created policies without sufficient input from those involved in emergency management, and FEMA's budget and decision making authority was eroded," he says. "It was logical that the response would be problematic under these conditions." As this year's hurricane season continues, FEMA is still struggling to deal with the effects of Katrina, he says, with many of its experienced employees retiring or changing careers. "It lacks sufficient staff to meet the disaster demands that face us. The same is true of the local and state levels. New obligations have been placed on the shoulders of emergency managers with inadequate human resources," McEntire says. McEntire studied the impact of Hurricane Georges on the Dominican Republic to identify the many factors that contributed to the disaster and examine the disaster's effects on residents and response operations. He spent two weeks in the nation after the hurricane hit in September 1998. Office phone number: (940) 565-2996
Home phone number: (940) 321-2440
E-mail: mcentire@unt.edu Hurricanes and water quality: Dr. Tom La Point, professor and director of UNT's Institute of Applied Sciences, says homes in harm 's way of a hurricane should be stocked with enough clean water and cleaning supplies for at least three days. "The waters surrounding communities hit by a hurricane invariably have poor water quality. Often, the sewage treatment facilities are partly or completely inoperable for a few days. In New Orleans, just after Katrina, the major health threats were from fecal bacteria in the floodwaters and the lack of potable drinking water," he says. La Point advises storing several gallons of water, sufficient for two gallons per person per day, in advance of a hurricane. "How prepared are we for this season? Not very," La Point says. "I think folks generally play the odds and hope that hurricanes will hit somewhere else." Office phone: (940) 369-7776
Home phone: (940) 891-4984
E-mail: lapoint@unt.edu Disaster recovery operations: Dr. James Kendra, coordinator of UNT's emergency administration and planning bachelor's degree program and an assistant professor, was formerly with the University of Delaware Disaster Research Center, where he managed a number of projects focusing on disasters and emergency planning as the center's research coordinator. Office phone: (940) 565-2213
E-mail: jmkendra@unt.edu Economic impact of hurricanes, particularly Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: Dr. Bernard Weinstein, professor of applied economics, is the director of UNT 's Center for Economic Development and Research. He is the author of "The Economic Aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: A Local, National and Global Assessment." He presented the study to the Indian Regional Science Association in Bangalore, India this past January and will present it again in Scotland this fall. Weinstein's research shows the breadth and depth of the economic effects of the two hurricanes. Cell phone number: (214) 707-1834 (first option)
Office phone number: (940) 565-4049
E-mail address: budw@scs.unt.edu
UNT News Service Phone Number: (940) 565-2108
Contact: Nancy Kolsti (940) 565-3509
Email: nkolsti@unt.edu
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